Art in Quebec City

Jean Paul Lemieux, Sketch for "The Ursulines"1951
This work caught my eye because we had spent a morning doing research in the Ursuline Museum.
Evidently the artist spent about 2 years working on this idea for a painting.

It's final form was a big change in style from his earlier works.
He entered it in the 1951 Quebec Art Competition and won 1st prize. It was bought by the art organisation.
In 2011 they also bought the sketch and were able to put the 2 together.
"Finally united, the two pieces provide access to Lemieux's thought processes at a turning point in his career".

We saw a retrospective of Leopold L. Foulem's work, mainly ceramics.
This teapot was my favourite.

Vanessa Yanow, 'Collaborer avec son histoire - Incarnation I', 2008.



It looks as though Vanessa used vintage iron-on transfers to place the motifs on the cloth imitating the embroidered table cloth but here the motifs are not placed in the conventional locations. She then embroidered the motifs in the traditional way using silk thread.
Glass embellishments were added.


The centre of the cushion is a mound of clear glass balls...

...filled with samples of the embroidery thread and transfer patterns used, feathers and pieces of transfer printed cloth.
This cushion was included in a very interesting exhibition of many different works made of glass.

Saints' Relics in Quebec City

Articulation visited many cathedrals, churches and chapels while in Quebec City.
Two were the most memorable for me. One was originally the Petit Seminaire of Quebec's chapel but now a deconsecrated building and incorporated into the Musee De L'Amerique Francophone.
My 1st reaction to the chapel was surprise when we discovered all the wood, marble and granite walls and ceilings are in fact sheet metal painted in the trompe-l'oeil style - a response to the earleir chapel being burnt down.
My 2nd response was to feel a bit creepy and fascinated at the same time.
It was my 1st experience of collected and displayed human body parts - reliqueries.

In amongst the rich gold work on velvet are the skeletal remains of saints.
The chapel has hundreds and hundreds of them.
In spite of feeling a bit repulsed I was drawn in to see how these bits of bone, hair and ashes are attached to the ground with stitch.

This reliquery I liked. I felt someone, or a group, really respected Saint Charles Borromee when they displayed his vestments so carefully then added a large gilt frame.

The work is full of items representing different things as well as pieces of his religious clothing. 

I hope there is a written record of what everything means and which parts of his life different items are referring to.

Articulation Visits the Ursuline Nuns Workshop and School Museum

Articulation's 2013 study session was in Quebec City. One of the highlights of the week was the time spent studying embroderies produced by the Ursuline nuns and their students.

They had specialised in producing heavily embroidered textiles for the Catholic churches and their priests.

Their main techniques were raised gold work and long and short stitch silk and wool thread painting.

'Alter Frontal : Holy Family at Rest', early 1700s.

Wool, silk, Japan gold, Japan silver, gold and silver with plate, purls and spangles on moire silk satin ground; bobbin lace.

Tree of Life in Saint Petersberg

When I travel I look for a number of reoccurring symbols, one of which is the Tree of Life.

I found some very interesting ones in the Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood, in Saint Petersburg.

They are huge mosaics, high on the walls.

They are on all sides of the church and each one is different.
Working with this symbol is just at the percolation stage at the present but it may be time to put them up on my design wall and move on to the brain storming stage.

Saint Petersberg

This summer I went to Saint Petersberg, Russia

One of the most striking features of the city is the contrast in architecture.

 

 

It was such a pleasure to just wander around the city for days.

Memorial Art

After the 2 recent collapses of Asian clothing factories resulting in loss of life, I was reminded again of walking through the downtown core of Christchurch in New Zealand this past summer.

On an empty lot where a church had stood there was an art installation of white painted chairs sitting on artificial grass.

The sign tells of the many times empty chairs have been given meaning by artists: Vincent van Gogh, the site of the Oklahoma Bombing, the NY 9/11 site. . .

The site is a memorial to 185 people who died in the Christchurch earthquakes.
People are invited to select a chair and to sit for a while.
It is a very moving and graphic work.

More Art Deco In Ranfurly?

The funny thing was only the hotel was promoted in the tourist brochures as being in the Art Deco style. With the Spanish styled tiled roof and metal balconies I didn't see it.

The columns were particularly off putting though the font of the hotel name is 1930s.

But once inside the old part I saw this magnificent Art Deco style ceiling that really played with the 'step' form.

3 inter-locking arched mirrors is so AD.

The light fixtures and female figure ornaments where characteristically in the AD style also.

But as far as the outside of the building, I think this rabbit hutch has more Art Deco features.

Art Deco in Ranfurly, New Zealand

When travelling I like to look out for Art Deco architecture and decorative arts.
While in the small town Ranfurly, in the centre of New Zealand's South Island, I came across some fine examples of Art Deco architecture in the main street.

 

 

The stepped roof line was a popular shape in buildings and motifs of that era.

Plain doors made elegant with a few simple lines.

Art Deco or the later Moderne style?

The stepped roof line suggests Art Deco.